Gas stations to be closed down

The fire safety Task Force of the Ghana National Fire Service, (GNFS) in Brong Ahafo, would next week close down six of the 32 gas filling stations in the region

Mr. Paul Opoku, the Regional Fire Officer, who told the Ghana News Agency in Sunyani, explained that affected stations had not met the certification procedure.

Three of the stations to be closed down are in Sunyani, two in Berekum and one in Goaso, the capital of the Asunafo North Municipality.

He said only 20 of the stations in the region had met the regulations for establishing a gas filling station while six were in the process to meet the standards.

However, the other six had not made any attempt to do so.

The regional fire officer explained, “every fire station is to have a certificate, construct a fire defence wall and must have attendants trained by the fire service before operations.”

Mr. Opoku said the closure was as a result of a report presented by the fire task force in a special inspection exercise after the recent gas explosion in Sunyani that killed one person and injured six others persons.

The outbreak also caused damage to property worth millions of cedis, he added.

He said it took the five-member task force a month to complete the exercise and the decision for the closure was taken after a critical study of the report, explaining that, “the GNFS is not interested in the closure but to protect lives and property in the immediate environs of gas stations.”

Mr. Opoku advised those interested in establishing gas filling stations to follow the correct procedures and warned that companies who refuse to comply with the precautionary measures would be closed down.

Source: GNA